Montana Rose

Montana Rose by Mary Connealy is the first in her Montana Marriages series.

Ms. Connealy is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. She writes a humorous but touching tale about the frontier life that keeps you turning the pages.

In Montana Rose we follow Cassie Griffin. Life on the Montana frontier hardly seems the place for this fragile little china doll. Spoiled and stand-offish is what the other residents of Divide, Montana call her. The Griffins live in a big, fancy house and Cassie dresses in silks - not at all the normal.

But all that changes when Cassie rides in to town with the news that Lester Griffin has died. Women alone in the Montana Territory don't stay alone and during the funeral men from all around the area show up - not to pay respects but to vie for the hand of the newly widowed lady. Widowed one day - married the next.

What follows is the story of two people who don't really know each other coming together and forming a family. It's a heart-warming tale that was hard to put down. And, as with many of Ms. Connealy's stories, it lays the foundation for the next book in the series (which I am terribly anxious to read).

I highly recommend this book - and any other by Ms. Connealy. If you read a series from her though, be sure to read them in order as they do build on each other.

Jody